Demon's Souls has one regular upgrade path (Hardstone for Strength weapons, Sharpstone for Dexterity weapons, up to +10) and a dozen special paths that each use their own stone and stop at +5: Quality, Crushing, Sharp, Dragon, Tearing, Mercury, Fatal, Moon, Crescent and Blessed for melee weapons, Sticky for bows and Dark for shields. A weapon branches into a special path only from an exact regular level, which differs from weapon to weapon, and only Blacksmith Ed can do the special paths. Here is how the whole system fits together in the PS5 remake.
We checked the paths, stones and smith rules against the Fextralife Demon's Souls wiki (its Upgrades page, one page per path, and the Uchigatana and Blacksmith Ed pages) plus the community wiki at demonssouls.com in November 2026.
Who Upgrades What: Boldwin Versus Ed
There are two blacksmiths, and the difference between them decides how far you can take a weapon. Blacksmith Boldwin stands in the Nexus next to Stockpile Thomas and only offers the basic work: Hardstone, Sharpstone and Clearstone upgrades. Blacksmith Ed lives in Stonefang Tunnel at the base of the moving platform near the 2-1 Archstone, and he accepts any ore you bring.
Reaching Ed takes a small detour. You need to activate the moving platform in the Smithing Grounds before you can get down to him, so do it on your first visit to 2-1 rather than coming back later. Once he is unlocked, he is the only smith who can move a weapon onto Dragon, Blessed, Moon, Crescent or any other special path.
Ed has a second role. Bring him the Searing Demon Soul from the Flamelurker in 2-2 and keep talking until he accepts it, and he turns it into the Red Hot Demon's Soul. After that he can forge unique weapons from boss Demon Souls. He can upgrade with any ore before that point, though: the Searing Demon Soul is only needed for the boss-soul weapons.
A small quality-of-life detail: you do not need to carry your stones. Both smiths can use stones held by Stockpile Thomas, which matters because Demon's Souls limits how much weight your item bag can hold.
The Regular Path and How Branching Works
The regular path is the trunk of the tree. Hardstone and Sharpstone each come in four sizes (Shard, Large Shard, Chunk and Pure), and a weapon can climb from +1 to +10, needing bigger and more numerous stones as it goes. Fextralife describes the result as high base damage with weak scaling: Hardstone moves Strength scaling from D to C, and Sharpstone moves Dexterity scaling up in a similar way. Every special path, by contrast, uses only three sizes (Shard, Chunk and Pure) and stops at +5.
The rule that catches most players is that a weapon can only enter a special path from one exact regular level. That level is set per weapon and per path. The Uchigatana shows how much it varies: it can go Sharp or Tearing straight from +0, needs to be exactly +3 for Quality or Mercury, needs +6 for Moon or Crescent, and needs +8 to become the Large Sword of Searching with the Hero Demon Soul.
The community wiki gives another example. A Short Sword has to be at +3 to switch to Crushing, while a Great Sword switches at +0. And "exact" means exact: a Short Sword at +4 cannot go Crushing at all until it is reset. Meltstone, which Fire Lizards drop in Stonefang Tunnel, melts a weapon back to its original state, but your stones and souls are not refunded. Boldwin can only revert weapons on the basic paths, so anything with a prefix or forged from a Demon Soul needs Ed.
The practical lesson: before you spend a single stone, open your weapon's upgrade chart on the wiki and note which level each branch needs. Pushing a weapon past its branch point by accident is the most common way to waste Chunks.
Every Special Path at a Glance
Each special path trades something for something else. Some add an element or status effect, some change which stat the weapon scales with, and two of them add regeneration. The table summarizes Fextralife's Upgrades page.
| Path | Stone | Max | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
| Regular | Hardstone / Sharpstone | +10 | High base damage, weak scaling |
| Quality | Clearstone | +5 | Equal Strength and Dexterity bonuses |
| Crushing | Greystone | +5 | High Strength scaling, no Dexterity bonus |
| Sharp | Bladestone | +5 | High Dexterity scaling, reduced Strength |
| Dragon | Dragonstone | +5 | High base damage plus fire, no stat bonuses |
| Tearing | Suckerstone | +5 | Dexterity scaling plus bleed |
| Mercury | Mercurystone | +5 | Dexterity scaling plus poison |
| Fatal | Marrowstone | +5 | Higher critical damage for backstabs and ripostes |
| Moon | Moonlightstone | +5 | Lower physical scaling, adds magic damage |
| Crescent | Moonshadestone | +5 | Magic damage scaling with Magic, MP regeneration |
| Blessed | Faintstone | +5 | Faith-scaling magic damage, HP regeneration |
| Sticky | Spiderstone | +5 | Bows only: Dexterity scaling and more range |
| Dark | Cloudstone | +5 | Shields only: more magic damage reduction |
Not every weapon can take every path. Fextralife counts 35 melee weapons on the regular path but only 9 that can go Fatal, 11 that can go Tearing and 14 that can go Crescent, while Moon is open to 28. Sticky is limited to 4 bows and Dark to 7 shields.
Which Path Fits Which Build
Choosing a path is really choosing which stats you will level for the rest of the game. A rough guide:
- Pure Strength: Crushing. It removes Dexterity scaling but pushes Strength scaling to S at +5 on the weapons that support it.
- Pure Dexterity: Sharp. Fextralife's scaling table shows Dexterity rising from C at +1 to S at +5 while Strength stays at E.
- Balanced melee: Quality. It evens out Strength and Dexterity bonuses, reaching C in both at +5.
- Spread stats or low levels: Dragon. Because it ignores stats, it hits hard for a character who has not specialized, and it adds fire.
- Magic casters: Crescent, for Magic scaling and free MP over time, or Moon for a hybrid that keeps some physical damage.
- Faith builds: Blessed, for Faith scaling and constant healing of 2 to 6 HP per second.
- Status builds: Mercury for poison (360 buildup at +5) or Tearing for bleed.
If you have not chosen a weapon yet, our list of the best weapons for each build pairs specific picks with these paths, such as the Uchigatana for Sharp or Quality and the Halberd for Blessed.
Where to Farm the Stones
Each world specializes in certain stones, which is one more reason the order you play matters. Our area order guide lines up well with these sources.
- Stonefang Tunnel (2): Hardstone Chunks from Crystal Lizards and Flame Sword Scale Miners; Greystone from Scale Miners and Rock Worms; Dragonstone from Bearbugs in the Tunnel City, plus Dragonstone Shards from the Filthy Man there; Clearstone from Crystal Lizards in the Tunnel City and Underground Temple.
- Boletarian Palace (1): Hardstone Chunks from Crystal Lizards in the Lord's Path, Inner Ward and King's Tower; Clearstone from Imperial Spies in the Inner Ward, and a Pure Clearstone for saving Ostrava there.
- Tower of Latria (3): Moonlightstone from Prisoners and Crystal Lizards, with Shards also sold by the Once Royal Mistress; Mercurystone from Man Centipedes.
- Shrine of Storms (4): Bladestone from Silver Skeletons, Gold Skeletons and Black Skeletons; Moonshadestone from the Reaper in the Ritual Path and Crystal Lizards, with Shards from Graverobber Blige.
- Valley of Defilement (5): Faintstone from Depraved Ones in the Swamp of Sorrow, Crystal Lizards and the Filthy Woman.
Pure stones are the bottleneck almost everywhere, since most come from a handful of specific sources, such as one particular Crystal Lizard, a boss drop or an NPC reward. Note which Pure stone your chosen path needs at +5 before you start, and pick it up the first time you pass its source. If you combine stone runs with soul runs, our soul farming guide shows which routes give you both.
Unique Weapons and Colorless Demon Souls
A few weapons live outside the stone tree entirely. Once Ed holds the Red Hot Demon's Soul, he can forge boss-soul weapons, and those recipes have exact entry levels too. The Large Sword of Searching, for example, needs an Uchigatana at exactly +8 on the regular path plus the Hero Demon Soul from the Old Hero. Other recipes ask for different bases and levels, some as high as +8 and some at +0, so check the recipe before you upgrade the base weapon. Plan these early, because a weapon you already took down a special path is no longer the regular-path weapon the recipe expects, and resetting it costs a Meltstone plus everything you spent.
Another group of unique weapons cannot use stones at all and is upgraded with Colorless Demon Souls instead. The Dragon Bone Smasher takes five of them to reach +5, and the Kris Blade upgrades the same way. Colorless Demon Souls are scarce: PowerPyx notes they drop from Primeval Demons, which only spawn in Pure Black world tendency, and the Recovery miracle costs three of them as well. Mephistopheles also pays a Colorless Demon Soul for two of her contracts, which our NPC quest guide explains along with what those contracts cost you in allies.
Mistakes That Waste Stones
- Overshooting the branch level. Check the chart first; one upgrade too many means a Meltstone and lost materials.
- Specializing before you know your build. There is no respec, so a Blessed weapon on a character with no Faith is a waste.
- Spending a Demon Soul on the wrong thing. Boss souls also buy spells and miracles, and the unique weapons consume them. Decide what each soul is for before you visit Ed.
- Ignoring shields. Eight shields can go on the regular path and seven can go Dark for more magic reduction, which helps against casters.
Want the Materials Handed Over?
Pure stones are the slowest part of any upgrade plan. If you would rather not farm Crystal Lizards for hours, the store's Demon Souls Complete Bundle + All Items is a PS5 item-drop service whose page lists stones and upgrade materials in high quantities for build progression, along with weapons, bows, crossbows, talismans, catalysts, shields, armor, ammunition and consumables.
Delivery is item-drop based, with instructions at checkout on the product page, and it is for PS5 players only. Browse the other services on the store's Demon's Souls page.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many upgrade paths are there in Demon's Souls?
Fextralife lists the regular Hardstone and Sharpstone path plus twelve special paths: Quality, Crushing, Sharp, Dragon, Tearing, Mercury, Fatal, Moon, Crescent, Blessed, Sticky and Dark.
How do you get Quality upgrades in Demon's Souls?
Take the weapon to exactly +3 on the regular path, then upgrade it with Clearstone. Boldwin in the Nexus can do Quality, as can Ed.
Where is Blacksmith Ed?
He is in Stonefang Tunnel at the base of the moving platform near the 2-1 Archstone. Activate the platform in the Smithing Grounds to reach him.
Can you undo a weapon upgrade in Demon's Souls?
Yes, with a Meltstone, which resets the weapon to its original state. You do not get the stones or souls back, and only Ed can revert special-path weapons.
What is the best upgrade path in Demon's Souls?
It depends on your stats. Crushing suits Strength, Sharp suits Dexterity, Quality suits balanced builds, Crescent suits Magic and Blessed suits Faith.
How do I upgrade the Crescent Falchion?
The Crescent Falchion +1 found in Island's Edge is already on the Crescent path, so Ed continues it with Moonshadestone. That stone comes from the Reaper and Crystal Lizards in the Shrine of Storms world, and Blige sells Shards.